If you have a large house and you experience dead spots when connected to your Wi-Fi network, then having a mesh network system is one of the prime solutions. A mesh WiFi system requires multiple routers so that the WiFi signal can be carried throughout your whole household or office. At this time, you have to have the same kind of router for a mesh network – like building one out of Google WiFi routers. But what if you can build a mesh network out of different brands of routers?
Until today, this can’t be done, as mesh systems require that you commit to one type of router. But the Wi-Fi Alliance, the entity that controls Wi-Fi specifications, has just announced a new standard called Wi-Fi EasyMesh. The idea is to make different brands of routers – as long as they support EasyMesh – work together to create a mesh network.
For instance, your Google WiFi will only play nice with other Google WiFi routers as nodes for a mesh network. But if Google decides to adopt EasyMesh, then it will be theoretically possible to build a mesh network with Google and Linksys routers. You only need one router as the network controller and all the others as EasyMesh agents. And EasyMesh provides ways to create the mesh network either with wired connections (between nodes) or wireless.
The great thing about EasyMesh is that it is only a software update, so theoretically, existing routers can be upgraded to support it. The problem now is getting manufacturers to actually get on the idea.
VIA: SlashGear
